Roger Chillingworth is the antagonist in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. He is a dynamic character who is introduced in the beginning of the novel and is developed throughout the story.
Nathaniel Hawthorne introduces roger Chillingworth near the end of chapter 2. He is described as “a man well stricken in years, a pale, thin, scholar-like visage,” (page 41) when Hester Prynne is on the scaffold and spots him in the crowd. Hester then notices a unique characteristic of Chillingworth was that “the left shoulder” was a “little higher than the right.”(Page 41) In Chapter 4, we see that Chillingworth has a secret that only Hester knows, which Chillingworth makes Hester swear not to tell. These actions add a lot of suspicion to the character.
Hawthorn develops the character of Chillingworth through out the story. Chillingworth is gradually being taken over by revenge both physically and mentally through the course of the novel. Chillingworth becomes Reverend Dimmesdale’s physician not only because of his bad health but to spy on him since he suspects that he is the man who had an affair with Hester. Chillingworth’s desire for revenge slowly turns him into “striking evidence of man’s faculty of transforming himself into a devil” (page 116). After Dimmesdale’s death, “all his (Chillingworth’s) strength and energy – all his vital and intellectual force – seemed at once to dessert him” (page 177) and he would die soon after.
In conclusion, Roger Chillingworth starts out as an average man and is slowly turned into a symbol of evil, a weak old man, and a man who is psychologically unstable by his lust for revenge at the end of the story.
Nathaniel Hawthorne introduces roger Chillingworth near the end of chapter 2. He is described as “a man well stricken in years, a pale, thin, scholar-like visage,” (page 41) when Hester Prynne is on the scaffold and spots him in the crowd. Hester then notices a unique characteristic of Chillingworth was that “the left shoulder” was a “little higher than the right.”(Page 41) In Chapter 4, we see that Chillingworth has a secret that only Hester knows, which Chillingworth makes Hester swear not to tell. These actions add a lot of suspicion to the character.
Hawthorn develops the character of Chillingworth through out the story. Chillingworth is gradually being taken over by revenge both physically and mentally through the course of the novel. Chillingworth becomes Reverend Dimmesdale’s physician not only because of his bad health but to spy on him since he suspects that he is the man who had an affair with Hester. Chillingworth’s desire for revenge slowly turns him into “striking evidence of man’s faculty of transforming himself into a devil” (page 116). After Dimmesdale’s death, “all his (Chillingworth’s) strength and energy – all his vital and intellectual force – seemed at once to dessert him” (page 177) and he would die soon after.
In conclusion, Roger Chillingworth starts out as an average man and is slowly turned into a symbol of evil, a weak old man, and a man who is psychologically unstable by his lust for revenge at the end of the story.